Is Black Myth: Wukong open world?

Black Myth: Wukong is around the corner and many players are wondering how the video game adaption of Journey to the West will be structured - specifically, is it an open world?

While it's not here yet, I do know the answer to that question.

Is it open world?

Black Myth: Wukong is not an open world game, but it does feature some fairly large, open-ended areas for you to explore at certain points.

Essentially, it's a linear game, but as you continue your journey, you will access explorable areas with enemies, mandatory and optional bosses, along other side content. Once you complete an area, you can move on to the next, and so on.

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Some of these open areas are bigger than others, but they don't all connect to each other. You'll be travelling between these regions on more linear paths, and it seems like you may be able to go backwards if you feel like you missed something.

With one of the biggest inspirations for Black Myth being the God of War reboot games, imagine something similar to that, but with a monkey god as a protagonist instead of an angry man learning to be a bit less angry.